the boy that could have been

ginger harassment

Harry blinked away his tears and turned away from the window, jumping as he saw the ginger twins grinning down at him.

"Hello there Mr. Potter."

"Don't worry if you need to..."

"Cry a little bit, I would too..."

"If my dad was that cool!"

Harry opened his mouth to reply, then shut it again. He thought he'd been quite discreet.

"So, are you like him?"

"Are you full of ideas for master pranks?"

"Can you bewitch toilets and befuddle sinks?"

"Will you aid us on our mission to torment the school?"

"Will you continue your father's legacy?"

"And will you please invite us round for Christmas?"

"I- erm- I- what are your names?" Harry stumbled over his words as he tried to reassure himself that there were two of them, his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

"I'm Gred!"

"And I'm Forge!"

"Wait no, that's not right, I'm Forge!"

"No, I am!"

"Me!"

"No, me! Look, it says FW right here!"

"Yeah, fuc-"

"Stop messing with him guys, you've only just met!" It was another ginger kid, great. The smallest boy. He grinned at Harry.

"Hey, I'm Ron. That's Fred, and that's George."

"Hi. I'm Harry, Harry Potter." Ron's eyes widened, earning himself sniggers from the twins, who he gave a two fingered salute.

"Don't let mummy see you doing that, ickle baby Ronnykins." Smirked Fred - or was it George? No, it was definitely Fred, he had more freckles. Ron just shot him a glare.

"Do you really have the- the scar?" Ron whispered in awe.

"No, he just though it would be fun to pretend he'd been struck by lightning." Sniggered George. Ron glared at him again, and the twins both turned to Harry and bowed.

"We bid you farewell, Mr. Potter." 

"We hope to see you soon on our-"

"Journeys of magnificence!"

"Au revoir!" They said in unison, and with that they were gone. Harry blinked bemusedly, still a bit unsure about what had just taken place. He turned to Ron to find him staring, and remembered his question.

"Oh - the scar?" He pushed aside his fringe and Ron gasped loudly, which Harry chuckled at. He opened his mouth to ask Ron about his big family, but before he could speak the oldest ginger boy entered.

"Good morning." He said pompously, "I'm Percy Weasley, I'm a Gryffindor Prefect. I couldn't help but notice your...family... on the platform, and Fred and George coming in here. I strongly advise you to steer clear of all of that, and focus upon your studies. They will benefit you much more!" Harry nodded and forced a smile, but Percy had already turned to Ron, "And you, Ronald, remember what mother and I told you. Much better to work hard! See you after the sorting, boys."

He left again before either of them could reply, striding off as though he owned the place. Harry turned towards Ron warily, wondering whether he could be honest, but Ron spoke before he did.

"That bloody git! For once in his life, he could lighten up a bit! What's the big deal for Merlin's sake!"

Harry laughed, and that seemed to seal their friendship, for they began to chatter away quite amicably. Ron shared stories of his big family (he had five older brothers overall, and a younger sister), whilst Harry self-consciously gave him pretty much the entire story of his life (which Ron was very interested in), as well as stories of Sirius and James.

A woman pushing a trolley soon arrived, and Ron reluctantly held up a rather squashed looking sandwich, "I'm all set."

Harry looked at him, then at the cart. Pulling out a handful of money from his pocket (thank you, irresponsible father), he bought the lot.

He and Ron were steadily munching their way through their supplies when Fred and George reappeared.

"Padfoot!"

"Definitely!"

"Sorry, what?" Harry asked, befuddled. Glancing at Ron, he clearly felt the same way.

"Your dad, he called that other man Padfoot, right?" Said the less freckly one - George.

"Yeah, that's uncle Padfoot, why?"

"Merlin's beard." Whispered Fred.

"Merlin's beard indeed." Replied George, and with that, the two disappeared again. Harry looked at Ron, who shrugged before taking a bite of some sort of sugar dragon.

Clearly, those two were a handful.